showing strength — we look at the state of australia's economy as its central bank decides its next move on interest rates. plus, how ideal corporate credit conditions are paving the way for a soft landing in the world's largest economy? hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm steve lai. let's start with australia where later this morning the central bank will review its benchmark interest rate. higher mortgage payments in australia are hitting savings and spending for low—income households, but the economy has also shown surprising strength. i spoke withjun bei liu from tribeca alpha plus fund earlier, who gave us her outlook for markets and the economy this year.

australian economy has been incredibly resilient. one difference though between here and the us, the us is a little bit further along than us, and rba, our central bank, generally is a lot more conservative and always looks to the us for guidance. what are the key factors driving the current interest rate movements in australia and how do they impact the economic outlook for the year? the economic outlook at this point is looking at a real tdp growth about 2% with inflation sitting at about mid—single digit level. with the rate currently most economists expect no rise today and potentially three cuts by the end of this calendar year. our inflation rate, the last report was actually a lot better or undershot our central bank's forecast and hopefully that will be on its way down in the next few prints. how resilient is the australian economy then expected to be? you sound very optimistic about it. what are the key areas of strength but also areas perhaps of vulnerability? the australian economy's

holding out well because consumers are still doing quite well, and with the rates staying where it is, yes we will have slowdown acroos the consumer sctor but we do have this tax cut coming through in the middle of the year which is over $20 million going or into the lower income and middle income households and they will be sure to spend back into the economy, and this is not to mention we have tourism and we have the students coming through that would drive lots of activity for the economy as well. lots of countries, when it comes to interest rates, we know it expecs homebuyers, affects people with mortgages, how does it affecting mortgage ability and housing demand? mortgage affordability has been very very difficult, especially in the last six months where many consumers in that mortgage belt, the lower—end consumer bracket, where they are rolled from the low fixed interest rate environment into the high interest rate, we are seeing pockets of distress across those mortgage belts or lower income households,

and it is likely to get worse before we see it get better with the rate cut. across the general economy, most of the high income households with assets seem to be doing 0k, that is why consumers are holding up well in aggregate. sticking with interest rates, credit quality for major companies in the us is solid even amid higher borrowing costs and that's because many of the biggest firms borrowed for longer duration when rates were lower. now, with us and other rates cuts expected later this year, this credit profile adds a tailwind to the chances for a soft landing in the us and a flow through to the global economy later this year. earlier i spoke to april larusse from bny mellon investment management and she told me the financial results of american companies have been surprisingly strong. corporate results we have seen have all been quite a bit stronger than we expected,

and i know the equity market has viewed the results with a bit of a mixed tone to them, but from a fixed income perspective, these companies are generating cash and can afford the debt they have and are certainly going to do well as we go through 202a. the economic data has continued to surprise, coming out stronger and stronger, including things like employment, which we typically would have expected to see slowing down at this stage of the cycle. how do credit ratings of major us corporations compared to those of global companies, and what factor contributes a solid character? in terms of credit quality, the us as more and the trip , triple b part of the region and that's just bottom end, but looking at default rates, they are pretty similar, you're pretty unlucky to get

a default rate on credit, if you look about about 20 years, the average default rate in any one year has been .1% of the investment, so it's not about defaults, it's about companies perhaps seen changes in their credit rating. and, therefore, as we go into 2024, there will be companies that perhaps see their credit rating downgraded, but we are expecting almost as many to see credit rating upgrades given the strength of the economy we're seen over there. consumers, they have higher saving rates for those who save, but paid more in interest for mortgages, car loans and the like, with the benefit from lower rates as well? the us economy, looking at the demographics, there are savers but really is the debt costs that would bite a bit more, we have been looking at things like credit cards and what is charge there,

and customers are paying late, we are seeing credit card arrears have rarely moved barely back to pre—pandemic levels and nothing like previous recessions, so although we see a bit of increase in slowing of payments in some of those interest rate sensitive parts of the economy, it is incredibly resilient, and that is probably down to 3.5% unemployment rates, which means people can actually pay their debts. one us company that has not done so well is mcdonald's. using a key metric, it rose just to .4%, well below estimates with consumer spending in china and alleged misinformation contributing to it. snapchat is due to announce

results on tuesday and reported a loss of more than $300 million in the previous quarter. major companies have been attempted to reduce costs. microsoft, amazon and google have all announced layoffs. to the uk. sally bundock has spoken to a pension advisor. she began by asking if this is a global problem.— she began by asking if this is a global problem. what we have aloball is a global problem. what we have globally is an — a global problem. what we have globally is an ageing _ globally is an ageing population. the world economic forum produced statistics that by 2050, the number of people aged over 60 will double and the number of people aged over 80 will triple by 2050 so you

then think about from a pension perspective, if you want to keep the proportion of people out a working age to the proportion that are retiring, than by 2050, the retirement age would increase by eight years. that puts huge stress and pressure on the pension system and ultimately people need to save more and into be prepared to work for longer. what can organisations like government or pension providers do to encourage this change of behaviour, i.e., working for longer and saving more? ultimately, in the uk, we have people enrolled in pension schemes. minimum contribution is 8%. if we look at other countries, in canada, that contribution rate is 20%. 80% the uk, 3% is coming from the

employer. in australia it is 12%. the employer. in australia it is i2%. the first and most important thing is we need to increase the rates of those enrolment contributions, ideally to 12 or 15% over time. that is assuming someone is in employment where they have an employer doing that for them. many people are self—employed, they might have multiple jobs or might be out of the workforce. there are so many complicated scenarios in this day and age. complicated scenarios in this day and age-— complicated scenarios in this day and age. there are two key oints i day and age. there are two key points i would _ day and age. there are two key points i would make _ day and age. there are two key points i would make to - day and age. there are two key points i would make to that. i points i would make to that. the auto role needs to be extended to include the self—employed as well. so they get regular savings so everyone in employment should have pension savings built—in is part of what they are doing. the other area you touched on was getting more people working for longer and a particular issue here is that in the uk we have roughly half a million over 50s that are out of work and would like to work and this

is a huge challenge but also a huge opportunity. if we can get a lot of that half a million back to work, firstly it is good for you, secondly you are earning money for longer and therefore saving for longer and your pensions need to last less time if you work for longer. there is a benefit opportunity to get the over 50s back into work. , , ~ , to get the over 50s back into work. , . , ., ., to get the over 50s back into work. . , ., ., work. jay wiley had a good day in court, acquitted _ work. jay wiley had a good day in court, acquitted of— in court, acquitted of manipulation charges. those charges connected to the merger of two affiliates that prosecutors alleged helped him to have control of detector conglomerate. that brings us to a close. thank you for watching.

bbc news bringing you different stories from across the uk. harry and his family are huge brighton fans but seven years ago harriet suffered a cardiac arrest at school. it was his teacher, christine, who saved his life. . , , his life. harris was playing football at _ his life. harris was playing football at the _ his life. harris was playing | football at the after-school football at the after—school club and i got called out to the field and he was just lying there. i knew he was not breathing because i checked with the breathing and also his lips were going blue. she continued _ lips were going blue. she continued doing - lips were going blue. she continued doing cpr - lips were going blue. she continued doing cpr for 15 minutes without stopping. she is the — minutes without stopping. she is the most amazing lady and, yes, _ is the most amazing lady and, yes, i'm — is the most amazing lady and, yes, i'm really, really gratefulfor yes, i'm really, really grateful for what she did for harry — grateful for what she did for har . �* .., , grateful for what she did for har . �* .. , ., , harry. alll can remember was wakin: harry. alll can remember was waking up _ harry. alll can remember was waking up in — harry. alll can remember was waking up in hospital- harry. alll can remember was waking up in hospital and - harry. alll can remember was waking up in hospital and not. waking up in hospital and not really— waking up in hospital and not really knowing _ waking up in hospital and not really knowing what - waking up in hospital and not really knowing what had - really knowing what had happened _ really knowing what had happened and _ really knowing what had happened and what - really knowing what had happened and what had| really knowing what had - happened and what had gone on. cardiac_ happened and what had gone on. cardiac arrest _ happened and what had gone on. cardiac arrest can _ happened and what had gone on. cardiac arrest can happen - happened and what had gone on. cardiac arrest can happen to - cardiac arrest can happen to anyone, as tom lockyer�*s

collapsed showed. during his recovery thank those who helped him and encourage more to learn cpr. earlierthis him and encourage more to learn cpr. earlier this week, him and encourage more to learn cpr. earlierthis week, he returned to his club and was given a standing ovation in their game against brighton. very lucky to have people on the football pitch who knew cpr and also have a defibrillator there. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. hey, i'm dylan with the catch up. tonight, king charles is diagnosed with cancer. an update on the clapham man—hunt and an unusual piano concert. first, buckingham palace says king charles has been diagnosed with cancer. he's undergoing treatment and won't be carrying out public duties, but the palace says he remains positive. some other stories, and police say a 22—year—old has been arrested and released on bail on suspicion of helping the suspect in the clapham

chemical attack. they're now offering £20,000 for information about him and more than 100 people have been killed by forest fires which have been raging in chile. parts of the country have been completely destroyed, with residents describing the situation as hell. next, it was a big night at the grammys for taylor swift, who won album of the year for a record breaking fourth time. that puts her ahead of anyone else in the history of the awards. taylor used the occasion to make this big announcement. my brand new album comes out april 19th. the night was dominated by women, with billie eilish taking home song of the year for what was i made for. and miley cyrus finally won her first grammy for record of the year, but maybe gave away a little bit too much information in her victory speech. arejust won my are just won my first grammy!

thank you all so much. i don't think i forgot anyone, but i might have forgotten underwear bye. now here are ten seconds of this unusual concert one pianist in germany took performing to new heights, playing a piano concert suspended vertically in the air. that's it from me. you're all caught up.

hello, and welcome to sportsday. i marc edwards. here is what is coming up on our shows. ——i'm foden on fire as the hat—trick hero helps manchester city up to second. he keeps the match ball in a 3—1 win over brentford. a record run chase too far. england run out of miracles as india level the series. calling it a massive issue, emma hayes says there aren't enough opportunities for female coaches in the wsl. hello, and thanks for joining us on sportsday. manchester city are up

to second in the premier league after a convincing 3—1 win at brentford which sees them